In 1625, Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia commissioned Rubens to design a series of twenty tapestries for the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid. The subject was the Eucharist, a leading Catholic dogma that the infanta defended in her role as sovereign princess of the southern Netherlands. Rubens conceived the scenes like victory marches, as if the cloths were hanging from baroque architecture. This rather contrived effect provoked doubts about what was real and what was created by the artist. The six panels at the Museo del Prado (P1695-P1700) are part of the process necessary for creating tapestries. They are models painted by Rubens as the basis for much larger cartoons that weavers follow when making tapestries. During the 18th century, four of these paintings had pieces added to all four sides, and two had additions to the top and bottom. These have been removed to recover the works’ original compositions.

Vergara, A. Woollett, A., Rubens. El triunfo de la Eucaristía, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado; J. Paul Getty Museum, 2014